How AP’s News Registry Will (and Won’t) Work

After the Associated Press released a controversial statement about a “news registry” that would help the organization track use of its content, I did some research to find out exactly how it would work.

The Associated Press’s announcement of a news registry to “track and tag all AP content” to “assure compliance with terms of use” has stirred a lot of discussion. From techies to journalists, it’s unclear how the registry will work, whether it will do what AP claims, and how it will fit in with copyright law and the culture of the Web.

The news registry was announced as part of the AP’s initiative to “protect news content from misappropriation online.” Bloggers worried that AP was after them, spurred by AP CEO Tom Curley’s statement to The New York Times that the registry would be used to regulate even the use of a headline and a link to an article. Others at the AP, however, have said that the news organization has no problem with people quoting its content in the course of blogging.

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I'm looking for my next opportunity to solve user interface problems and make an impact. Currently, I'm teaching code to high school students with CodeNation (formerly ScriptEd) and I'm a contributor on a mobile canvassing app called Reach. Some of my projects are on GitHub. I blog about what I'm learning and random tidbits that catch my fancy. Contact me at mtaylor@megantaylor.org